It has become quite common in large buildings nowadays to design many interior spaces, including working areas and public rooms, without means for supplying natural daylight. This creates various problems associated with such windowless working environments. The inventor has observed that environments which are windowless and deprived of any significant source of natural daylight, are known to lead to physical and psychological problems which, in turn, decrease the productivity of people working in the windowless offices.
The inventor has conducted extensive studies to determine the influences of light, color and lack of windows on the mood, health and productivity of employees. He has observed that the quality of light, presence of windows, and even the views through a window can greatly effect the mood, work, and mental and physical health of people.
The inventor has observed that most people dislike windowless environments. They feel boxed-in, disconnected, and cheerless. The problem is compounded during fall and winter by dwindling hours of sunlight. Energy and productivity often sag.
Windows and sunlight can affect a person's rhythms and moods profoundly. Light influences how one interacts with other people, one's happiness, productivity and even health. People gravitate towards windows because they instinctively understand that windows and sunlight make them feel better.
It has been known in the art to provide various illuminated, decorative panels, room display units and units with the appearance of windows mainly to enhance the aesthetic appearance of interiors or for advertising purposes. Examples of such panels are, for example, suggested in British Patent No. 2,084,461, or U.S. Pat. No. 4,034,494. The structure of both display units have significant thickness of the panel boxes, do not emanate light evenly, do not emanate an "outdoors" spectrum of light, and thus do not create an impression and feeling of natural windows.
Light-boxes which are used for backlighting of advertising transparencies and decorative panels have to be 5"-8" deep in order to provide evenly diffused light. If they were used as part of simulated windows, such prior art light boxes would cause the appearance of the unit to be bulky and disturbingly unnatural on the wall or on the ceiling, thus negating the attempt to make the unit look like and have the psychological impact of a realistic-looking window.
Various attempts have also been made in the lighting industry to improve the working environment of interiors supplied with artificial light by directing the improvements to the quality of the artificial light. It is known, for example, to provide lighting fixtures with polarizing panels to reduce glare which, in turn, tends to reduce fatigue and headaches among people. In addition, there are available lamps (bulbs) which emit light similar to the daylight spectrum. Some lamps have characteristic colors which have been shown to be helpful in terms of color accuracy and color preferences to the human eye.
In recent years "light therapy" boxes have also been available. Light therapy is now frequently prescribed by physicians for a number of problems, most commonly SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder), a depression thought to be caused by insufficient exposure to daylight. These light boxes emit intense light with a daylight spectrum, but are unattractive and generally uncomfortable to use. They are typically prescribed for periods of 30 minutes to 3 hours a day. Their shape, light unevenness and intensity and significant cost make them unsuitable for use as part of a daylight window simulation unit.